Martin v



(No Model.) I 1 H V M. V. NICHOLS.

HAME.

No. 427,891. Patented May 13, 1890. w 5. 7 E391.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN V. NICHOLS, OF PORT ARTHUR, ONTARIO, CANADA.

HAM E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,891, dated May 13, 1890.

Application filed Jctober 28, 1889. Serial No. 328,399.- (No model.)

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN V. NICHOLS, of Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hames, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in hames, seeking to provide a simple novel construction by which the point of connection of the hame-strap with the hames may be varied and set at any desired point within the range of the ordinary adjustment of the said strap.

The invention consists in certain novel constructions and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the upper portion of a hame constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a crosssection of the same on about line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the filling-pieces. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the jacket, all of which will be described. Fig. 5 shows a somewhat different construction.

Ordinarily hames are constructed with two passages for the hame-strap, such passages being made one above the other, and both being of such size only as to permit the passage of the hame-strap, the strap being passed through the upper passage when the hame is to be used on a large collar, and through the lower passage when it is to be used on a small collar; but there is no provision in such construetion for the proper fitting of the hame to a medium collar. Consequently on a medium collar the strap must be placed through either the upper or lower hole or passage, and the hame is not so well fitted as if the strap could be accurately arranged to suit the collar. To avoid such objection and to enable the hame to be accurately fitted to any-sized collar between the usual small and large sizes thereof is one of the objects of my invention.

In carrying out my invention. I provide a slot or passage for the hame-strap, and also filling pieces or blocks adjustable, as presently described, whereby the hame-strap may be held in any suitable adjustment up or down.

In the construction shown thehame has the slot A,which is made suifieiently long to extend between the ordinary points at which it is desired to hold the strap. In Fig. 1 the slot is shown as formed in the main portion B of the hame and immediately under the edge-iron C, while in Fig. 5 it is formed by securing a separate iron strap D outside the edge-iron. Manifestly either of these constructions may be employed. The filling pieces or blocks E are provided in such numbers as to close all of slot A except sufiicient for the passage of the hame-strap, and these filling-pieces are independently adjustable, so that they may be all lowered, as shown in Fig. 1, to hold the strap in its uppermost posit-ion, or the upper one may be adjusted against the top wall of slot A and the strap be held between such upper piece and the next lower one, or the pieces may be adjusted to hold the strap between any two adjacent ones thereof, or be tween the lower piece and the bottom wall of the slot. This construction, it will be seen, permits a considerable range of adjustment of the strap, only limited by the length of the slot and the number and size of the filling-pieces, which obviously may be varied as desired. By preference the filling-pieces E fit in and are movable within the slot A, being held therein by ears or flanges e at their ends lapping against the opposite edges of the hame, and preferably projected forward to lap against the edge-iron, as shown.

IVhile the construction as described will give good results, it may be preferred in some instances, when desired to secure extra strength, to use in connection therewith the jacket F, which, as shown, is a plate bent into U shape, adapted to fit over the hame from the front and having its arms provided with slots f, which, when the jacket is applied to the hame, register with the slot A, so that the hame-s trap may be passed therethrough. The inner walls of these slots f may be rounded by the construction shown, in which, instead of cutting out the metal to form the slots f, such metal is only cut at the ends and front side and turned out andbaek to form rounded strap-bearings at the rear side of the slots, as shown in Fig. l. This construction throws the strain of the straps onto the edge-iron, as will be understood from Fig. 1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is' 1. The improved hame having a slot or pas- ICO sage for the hame-strap and provided with a plurality of filling pieces or blocks, which together fill such slot or passage, except so much thereof as is necessary for the passage of the strap, such filling-pieces being adjustable or movable independently, whereby the strap may be held above or below the same or between any two thereof, substantially as set forth.

2. The improved hame, substantially as described, having a slot for the passage of the hame-strap and filling-pieces E, which together fill such slot, except so much thereof as is necessary for the passage of the strap, said pieces E being fitted movablyin the slot 

